Unknown Knight

After a simple dinner, Aix chatted with the two leaders for a while. After asking them about their situation, he agreed on the price of the labor with them.

Borcha had told Aix in advance that they usually worked for local masters, and the daily wages of each craftsman was no more than twenty copper coins, and the wages of coolies were even less, less than twenty coins, and they also had to provide their own meals.

Knowing the reserve price, Aix offered them an unprecedented high price, including thirty copper coins per day for each craftsman and twenty-five copper coins per day for each coolie, in addition to two full meals in the morning and evening.

In addition to their wages, the two leaders also received a commission of five copper coins each, of course, on the premise that their subordinates completed the required workload for the day.

This treatment was very good, plus the value of two meals, they received three times the original wages. Old Mike and Zhebu immediately patted their chests loudly, saying that they would complete the project beautifully.

But in the end, Aix also raised some small requests, such as the manpower must be absolutely reliable, they must not tell others what to do, they only need to be given money to prepare their own food in the early stage, and they can only live outside the city before completion, etc. The two leaders agreed without hesitation and repeatedly assured Aix that they would do it according to his requirements and let him rest assured.

The next day, more than twenty craftsmen and coolies, carrying the fifty copper coins they had just received, first went to several warehouses in the city to buy enough food for five days. They bought separately, and the amount they bought was not much compared to usual, so it did not attract the attention of the local masters.

The city of Zion has three gates, one leading to the dock, one leading to the inland, and one leading to the river shallows. More than 20 craftsmen and laborers, in groups of two or three, carried excavation and repair tools wrapped in sacks and enough dry food for five days, and left the city from the three gates.

Their departure from the city did not attract other people's attention. The weather was getting hot at that time and all work had stopped. Even if someone noticed them, they would think that they were leaving the city to forage for food in the wild and there was nothing wrong with it.

They met at the agreed place outside the city, and together with Bestur, Ran Ying, James and other five people who were waiting there, they set off for the bay selected by Aix.

Aix stayed in the city. Besides the fact that his target was too obvious and it was not easy to move, there was another main reason why he stayed. That was to go to the slave trader Ogebai family, one of the five major families, and negotiate with the person in charge of the place.

The patriarch of the Ogebai family, Ogebai Rogge, is actually not the patriarch of any family. The real patriarch of their Ogebai family is far away in the Gronia continent. Rogge is just a collateral descendant of the family. Because of his mediocre ability and no one to take care of him, he was exiled to this isolated city with a harsh and remote environment where other members of the family are unwilling to come. Here, he helps the family guard this stronghold of the maritime slave trade.

Every month, the family would transport a batch of slaves from the sea. In the past, most of these slaves would die of inexplicable diseases due to the two-month long sea transport. Later, a transport ship hit a reef and was damaged, so it had to stop midway and spent nearly a month repairing.

Through this incident, the family discovered that as long as the sea transportation time was shortened to one month and the slaves were allowed to live on land for a period of time, drink fresh water, eat fresh food, etc., these weed-like slaves would be able to recover and the mortality rate would be reduced to less than 20% or even lower.

So the family sent out family armed forces to seize a piece of land at this place located in the middle of the trade route, and built a fortress for the temporary detention of slaves and storage of corresponding supplies. At that time, this place was just a large settlement by the sea, and no one dared to stop their family from building the fortress.

When Ogbai Rogge, who was used to a comfortable life, first came here, he couldn't stand the harsh environment here. He wanted to spend some money to lobby the powerful people in the family to see if he could be transferred back to his hometown in Gronia.

But later he found a way to make money, which was the 20% mortality rate of slaves. For the sake of silver coins, he gradually gave up the idea of ​​​​returning to his hometown and settled down peacefully.

It turned out that in order to make money, this guy secretly sold the fresh ingredients used to nourish the slaves, and embezzled them, instead feeding the slaves with local moldy dates and rotten melons and fruits. Except for causing a few more slaves to die of diarrhea, his actions did not increase the mortality rate of these weed-like slaves, but instead reduced the mortality rate by about half.

In this way, the city could survive more than ten or twenty slaves every month. He could then sell these slaves to local families and make an extra few dozen silver coins. This was a considerable income, equivalent to his income for half a year in his hometown. For the sake of money, Rogge chose to "work hard and never complain" and continue to stay in Zion City to serve his family.

By chatting with Bolcha and summarizing the information he got from Old Mike and Zeb, Axe determined that the cause of death of the slaves was probably sepsis. Although eating too many moldy dates and rotten melons and fruits can easily cause stomach upset, they are rich in vitamin C, which can effectively treat sepsis. This is the reason why the death rate of slaves was reduced.

One of the reasons why Aix came to visit Ogbai Roger was because of the slaves who had been brought back to life.

Arriving at the fortress, Aix had someone deliver fifty silver coins worth of goods, and soon obtained permission to meet with Ogbai Rogge. For the sake of money, Ogbai Rogge was very polite to Aix, and the two of them had some business talks when they met. Then Aix did not beat around the bush and said to Rogge directly:

"Respected Lord Roger, I heard that you have a batch of slaves to sell every month?"

Although this news was not new in the city, Rogge and Aix were not familiar with each other after all. He refused to admit that he was poaching his own people, so he denied it flatly:

"No, Lord Aix, where did you hear that? It's just a lie from the people below. There are dozens of slaves thrown into the sea outside the city every month, but they are all dead. There are no living slaves."

Aix nodded in agreement without leaving any trace:

"Yes, yes, the people below like to talk nonsense, but Lord Roger, you also know my recent situation. I am in urgent need of some manpower. Can you sell those slaves who are about to die to me? I can buy them for six silver coins per person."

When Rogge heard this, his left eyebrow trembled with excitement. He sold those nominally dead slaves to the locals for a maximum of five silver coins each, and sometimes he was sold for less than four silver coins due to the low price. Now he suddenly had an extra income of more than ten or twenty silver coins every month. How could he not be excited?

"But I have a small condition. Lord Roger, can you give me those slaves who are confirmed to be dead? I will..."

Aix hesitated to speak, giving the other party time to use his imagination.